Maybe it was the environmental aura about The Pillow Project’s latest installment of its Second Saturday series, but a healthy crowd gathered at The Space Upstairs to sample some “Sophisticated Junk” last weekend.
It was the perfect fit, with The Space being upstairs at Construction Junction, Point Breeze’s ultimate recycling location that houses everything from nifty architectural details to toilets. Porter and friends were channeling those very green thoughts while recycling various materials, choreography and a year’s worth of Pittsburgh Post-Gazette newspapers.
Could that make it a conflict of interest for this former PG critic and current contributor? The daily editions were stacked against the long chalk board wall, seemingly ready and willing and I found myself able as a result.
Of course, the use of “found objects” was originated by Marcel Duchamp in the early 20th century. But these days, with the help of Rachel Carson, Al Gore and their peers, all things renewable, recyclable and reusable have achieved a vaunted prominence in today’s world.
Pearlann Porter and friends, of course, put their own plentiful twist on things. The Space was decorated with masks assembled from rusty metal pieces, among other finds. But the most scintillating figure was a real tree, sans leaves and wrapped in assorted electrical cords. Like a mad lab experiment, it seemed to grow out of a laptop (courtesy of Porter and hubbie Derek Stoltz). And situated as it was dead center, audience members sometimes had to look around it to ferret out the dance — no big deal for this amenable audience.
Although it was still fun to see Michael Walsh’s recycled and increasingly arch solo about dancers, there was a reusable grocery bag full of concepts from the prolific Porter. Laura Stokes prowled the space in a nifty suburban housewife dress and apron made entirely of newspaper. She was continually obsessive while pestering patrons with coupons, before imploding at the end.
Porter graduated from the Post-Its at the last event to papering a long wall with newspapers. The increasingly inventive PJ Roduta and the ageless Charles Hall immersed themselves in a corner filled with everyday percussion ala “STOMP” (and actually all from Construction Junction).
Then they drove the dancers into an escalating frenzy during which they ripped at the pages on the wall and improvised collectively. It was, in Porter’s own words, about the  “slow disintegration of print media and information.”  Hm-m-m. It was a little long, but the reality of the situation will probably go on even longer.
But my favorite was still “Lonely People,” a piece that Porter previewed at the Dance Alloy a short time ago. Using projection techniques to conjure up imaginary characters that the Beatles might have alluded to in their famous hit, Porter depicted alienation, primarily in a series of solos.
Enjoy a series of photos by Pillow Project photographer Derek Stoltz.